And the GDPR advocates claimed it wouldn't have devastating unintended consequences. Using coercive state power to forcefully regiment voluntary interactions is always wrong and causes severe adverse effects.

GDPR is also harming European scientific research:

https://sciencebusiness.net/news/data-protections-rules-harm...

If central planning worked at making society function better, the Soviet Bloc would have flourished and leapfrogged the West. It doesn't.